Interactive advertisement

ABSTRACT

Implementations discussed herein are directed to providing interactive advertisements to a viewer of a broadcast or other program service transmission. Interactive advertisements include product offering advertisements that give details regarding sales of specific products or retailers that offering specific products for sale. A user may create a shopping list or other indicator that specifies which product offering advertisements are displayed. Product offering advertisements may be displayed concurrently with content from a program service transmission. Extended product offering advertisement that provide further details regarding a product for sale may be displayed in response to user selections of particular product offering advertisements. Product offering advertisements and/or extended product offering advertisements may be displayed on a front panel screen of a receiver or on a television or other output device used to display program service content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/825,133, filed Mar. 20, 2013, entitled “INTERACTIVEADVERTISEMENT,” which is a U.S. National Stage Entry of PCTInternational Application No. PCT/UA2010/000068, filed Sep. 21, 2010,entitled “INTERACTIVE ADVERTISEMENT,” the contents of which areincorporated herein by reference, in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Implementations discussed herein are directed to providing interactiveadvertisements to a viewer of a broadcast or other program servicetransmission.

BACKGROUND

A television broadcast or other program service transmission may includeone or more broadcast advertisements. Such advertisements are shownperiodically during the display of a particular channel and are familiarto television viewers. For example, a broadcast advertisement may beshown before and after the airing a particular program, as well as atperiodic intervals during the program. Broadcast advertisements mayfeature products and services, such as automobiles, gaming systems,restaurants, recently released films, and so on.

In some instances, a broadcast advertisement may be produced by a localmerchant or retailer and shown locally. In this type of broadcastadvertisement, the advertisement itself may contain information as towhere featured product or service may be purchased. For example, a smallbusiness owner with a shop located in the downtown area of particularcity may produce a broadcast advertisement that is then shown on localtelevision stations in the city. This type of advertisement may includethe shop's address and/or directions to the shop's location.

In other instances, a broadcast advertisement may be produced bymerchant or other seller whose products are available through variousretailers that located in different areas. For example, an automobilemanufacturer may produce a broadcast advertisement for its latest modeland that advertisement may air in different cities. In this type ofbroadcast advertisement, the advertisement may not provide anyinformation as to where or how a product featured in the advertisementmay be purchased. For such advertisements, a viewer may wish to purchasethe product featured in the advertisement, but may be at a loss as towhere or how the product may be purchased.

SUMMARY

Implementations discussed herein are directed to providing interactiveadvertisements to a viewer of a broadcast or other program servicetransmission. Interactive advertisements include product offeringadvertisements that give details regarding sales of specific products orretailers that offering specific products for sale. A user may create ashopping list or other indicator that specifies which product offeringadvertisements are displayed. Product offering advertisements may bedisplayed concurrently with content from a program service transmission.Extended product offering advertisement that provide further detailsregarding a product for sale may be displayed in response to userselections of particular product offering advertisements. Productoffering advertisements and/or extended product offering advertisementsmay be displayed on a front panel screen of a receiver or on atelevision or other output device used to display program servicecontent.

One embodiment is directed to a receiver, comprising: a tuner operableto receive a program service transmission having a plurality ofchannels, the tuner operable to select one of the channels responsive toa signal received from an input device and to prepare the channel to beoutput in a data signal to an external display device; a memoryconnected to the tuner, the memory including a tangible storage mediumoperable to store computer readable data and instructions, the memorystoring a plurality product offering advertisements; a processorconnected to the memory operable to run computer executable code storedin the memory device, the processor operable to process input receivedfrom the input device to determine a product selection and to select oneor more product offering advertisements that conform to the productselection; and an audio visual module connected to the tuner and to theprocessor, the audio visual module operable to output the one or moreproduct offering advertisements that conform to the product selectionfor display to the user.

Another embodiment is directed to a method for providing an interactiveadvertisement, comprising: receiving a program service transmission at areceiver, the program service transmission having a plurality ofchannels; outputting at least one channel of the plurality of channelsfrom the receiver for display on a display device; receiving user inputat the receiver, the user input including a product selection; andoutputting from the receiver at least one product offeringadvertisement, the at least one product offering advertisement includinga product for sale and a location where the product may be purchased,the product for sale conforming to the product selection.

Yet another embodiment is directed to a method for providing aninteractive advertisement, comprising: receiving a program servicetransmission at a receiver, the program service transmission having aplurality of channels and a plurality of product offering advertisementsfor products that are featured in broadcast advertisements shown on atleast one of the channels of the program service transmission;outputting at least one channel of the plurality of channels from thereceiver for display on a display device; outputting from the receiverat least one product offering advertisement during display of the atleast one channel, the at least one product offering advertisementincluding a product for sale and a location where the product may bepurchased, the product for sale corresponding to the broadcastadvertisement shown on the at least one channel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is illustration of an operating environment showing componentsand features of implementations discussed herein;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method in accordance withembodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of output from a receiver and a display devicein accordance with embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 4 is another illustration of output from a receiver and a displaydevice in accordance with embodiments discussed herein;

FIG. 5 is still another illustration of output from a receiver and adisplay device in accordance with embodiments discussed herein; and

FIG. 6 is another flow chart illustrating a method in accordance withembodiments discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments discussed herein are directed to providing interactiveadvertising to a viewer of a television broadcast or other programservice transmission through a product offering advertisement. As usedherein, a “product offering advertisement” is an advertisement thatgives specific details regarding a sale of a particular product or aretailer that offers a particular product. In one embodiment, a productoffering advertisement may be shown concurrently with a broadcastadvertisement that features the product that is featured in the productoffering advertisement. As used herein, “broadcast advertisement” is anadvertisement that is aired or otherwise shown on a channel of aparticular program service. A product offering advertisement may bedisplayed in areas that are visible to a user such as a front panelscreen of a receiver or on a display device otherwise used to displaycontent associated with a program service transmission.

As used herein, a “receiver” may be any device capable of receivingvideo and/or audio content included in a broadcast or other programservice transmission from a service provider. For example, a receivermay include a set-top box, a cable box, a television, a raster thatreceives streaming video general purpose computer, and so on. As usedherein, a service provider may include any service that provides aprogram service transmission to a receiver such as, without limitation,a satellite television service, a direct television service or a cabletelevision service. It should be understood that the term “programservice transmission” generally embraces not only satellite orterrestrial broadcasts, unicasts and/or narrowcasts but alsotransmission of information across any wired or wireless transmissionmedium. Accordingly, a “program service transmission” encompassestransmission of information across a cable network (for example a cableheadend to cable receiver), an Internet or other computer-accessiblemedium (including a local area network, wide-area network, and so on),including Internet protocol television transmissions, a wireless networksuch as a radio frequency (including satellite) or infrared network, andso on.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a general operating environmentshowing components and features of embodiments discussed herein. FIG. 1includes a service provider 104 that transmits or otherwise provides aprogram service transmission to a receiver 108. The receiver 108 may beassociated with an individual, business or other entity, user orsubscriber that receives a program service transmission from the serviceprovider 104. The program service transmission may be received through asubscription to the service. Generally, the terms “user” and/or“subscriber” refer to an individual or company who receives a programservice transmission. This may include those who have purchased asubscription to the program service transmission. Alternatively, theterms “user” and/or “subscriber” may refer to individuals who have beengiven access to the program service transmission through promotionaloffers and/or other non-fee-based agreements.

In connection with embodiments that operate in the context of asatellite television service, the service provider 104 may provide aprogram service transmission through an uplink center 112.Implementations discussed herein may utilize a direct broadcastsatellite (DBS) system which can incorporate packetized transmission ofsignals according to an appropriate standard, such as the MPEG-2 and/orMPEG-4 standards. The uplink center 112 may include a transmitter orother equipment operable to transmit a modulated signal having datarepresenting audio and/or visual content. The modulated signal may bereceived at a satellite 116, which in turn retransmits the modulatedsignal to be received at one or more terrestrial locations. Theretransmitted signal may be received from the satellite 116 at one ormore satellite dishes 120, which are typically associated with one ormore receivers 108. A receiver 108 may include a tuner 124 operable toreceive the program service transmission signal through the satellitedish 120 and a decoder 128 to decode the received signal. The decoder128 may be programmed to decrypt, demodulate, demultiplex or otherwisedecode some or all of the received signals in accordance with purchasesand selections made by a user. Output from the decoder 128 may bedirected to an audio visual (A/V) processing module 140. The A/Vprocessing module 140 may process the video and audio streams usingdigital-to-analog conversion techniques, or compressed digital touncompressed digital conversion techniques, to produce one or moreoutput signals.

The audio visual processing module 140 may provide output to a frontpanel screen 136 and/or to a display device 144. The display device 144may be a television, a monitor, a projector, or other device suitable todisplay content from a television broadcast or other program servicetransmission received by the receiver 108. The front panel screen 136may be disposed on the front side or other visible portion of thereceiver 108 and may be implemented using a liquid crystal display (LCD)or other appropriate technology. The front panel screen 136 may be usedto display information regarding the program service transmission, suchas a number designating a currently displayed channel. Output from theaudio visual processing module 140 may include signals directed to thedisplay device 144 that may include a particular channel of the programservice transmission and signals directed to either the front panelscreen 136 or the display device 144 that include one or more productoffering advertisements.

Again, it should be noted that embodiments may operate with differentproduct transmission services. Accordingly, although a satellite systemis provided as an example of a program service transmission system, itshould be understood that other networks or broadcasts for transmittingdata may be used by alternative embodiments. For example, embodimentsmay be implemented in connection with a cable service. In this case, theservice provider 104 and the receiver 108 may communicate over acommunication path that includes various combinations of local and widearea networks, coaxial cable, fiber optics and/or the Internet.

The receiver 108 may include or be associated with a memory or otherstorage device 152, such as magnetic or optical storage. The storagedevice 152 may be operable to store data received from the decodedbroadcast signal. The storage device 152 may be volatile or non-volatilememory implemented using any suitable technique or technology such as,for example, random access memory (RAM), disk storage, flash memory,solid state and so on. The storage device 152 may be located within thereceiver 108 or separately from the receiver 108. The storage device 152may removable in nature. The stored data set may include audio and/orvisual content to be transmitted and output through the display device144 or other device output device. Generally, audio/visual content mayinclude still images, video images, animation and/or audio. PortableNetwork Graphics (PNG) or other appropriate formats, such as forexample, Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), Joint Photographic ExpertsGroup (JPEG), Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2, MPEG-4 may be usedto display an image or video.

The receiver 108 may additionally include a processor 156 operable torun executable code in connection with various functions associated withthe receiver 108. For example, the processor 156 may display graphics,images, animations or other content through the display device 144. Thestorage device 152 may store a module, application, file, or other datathat is useable by the processor 156. As used herein, a module includesprocessor executable code that may be run to carry out one or morefunctions associated with the receiver 108. “Processor executable code”includes any computer-readable media or commands that may be ultimatelyinterpreted by a processor, such as HTML or XML files that are renderedinto user-viewable applications by an application executed by theprocessor 156. In one instance, an advertising management module 158,which is stored in the storage device 152, may be executed by theprocessor 156 provide interactive advertising to a user by processinginput received from a user input device 160 and/or by controlling theadvertising content that is sent to the front panel display 136 or tothe display device 144.

As used herein, a “user input device” may include any device operable toreceive input from a user and to convey the input to the receiver 108.In one embodiment, the user input device 160 may be a hand-held devicesuch as a remote control having a number of buttons or keys that whenactuated by a user cause the user input device to convey information tothe receiver 108 using a suitable wireless communication signal.Wireless signals that are sent to or received from the user input device160 may be processed through a communication interface 162 associatedwith the receiver 108. The communication interface 162 may be operableto send and receive wireless signals such as radio frequency signals orinfrared signals. The user input device 160 may include a pointingdevice or functionality that allows the user to control the position ofa cursor that is displayed on the display device 144. For example, theuser input device 160 may include a track ball or glide plane that maybe manipulated to control cursor movements. The user input device 160may include a motion sensor or accelerometer that allows a user tocontrol displayed items or graphics, such as a cursor, through movementsof his or her hand or arm that cause a displacement of the user inputdevice 160. It should be appreciated that other input devices such as acomputer mouse, capacitive touchpad or touch screen may be used andother communication means, wired or wireless, may be used.

Among other functions, the advertising management module 158 may receiveand/or process user input that indicates a product selection. The usermay enter product selections through the user input device 160 in anumber of different manners. In some instances, a user may select aproduct that is featured in a currently displayed broadcastadvertisement. Here, the user may press a designated button on the userinput device 160 concurrently with the broadcast advertisement beingdisplayed on the display device 144. In other instances, the user mayenter a description or other details regarding a particular productthrough a dedicated graphical menu that is displayed on the displaydevice 144. In response to receiving a product selection from the user,the advertising management module 158 may receive and/or selectparticular product offering advertisements that conform to the productselection entered by the user. Once product offering advertisements thatconform to the product selection have been received and/or selected,these advertisements may be sent to either the front panel display 136or the display device 160 for display to the user.

The advertising management module 158 may be provided in associationwith one or more product offering advertising 162 that are stored in thestorage device 152. A particular product offering advertisement 162 mayinclude text that describes a product offered for sale. The descriptionmay include such details as the name and location of the retailer thatis offering the product for sale, the price of the product, and so on.Text associated with the product offering advertisement 162 may bedisplayed on the front panel display 136. In other embodiments,pictures, videos, and/or text associated with the product offeringadvertisement 162 may displayed on the display device 136. In accordancewith other embodiments, one or more product offering advertisement 162may be received and displayed upon receipt without the product offeringadvertisements being stored in the storage device 152. In this way, theadvertising management module 158 operate in a streaming mode in whichnew product offering advertisements are received and displayed inreal-time.

The service provider 104 may include a product offering advertisementdatabase 176. The service provider 104 may provide the product offeringadvertisements 162 to the receiver 108 as part of a data transfer thatis sent through the satellite 116. Here, the receiver 108 may receive adownlinked satellite signal that includes the data transferred on adesignated line in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) or other portionof the broadcast service transmission that does not interfere with othertransmitted content. The product offering advertisements sent in thismanner may feature offerings of products for sale that are featured inbroadcast advertisements. In other instances, the service provider 104may provide the product offering advertisement to the receiver 104across a data network, such as the Internet.

In connection with receiving data transfers from the service provider, aparticular receiver 108 may include a network interface 170. The networkinterface 170 may be generally operable to communicate or sendinformation across a network 172. In accordance with certain embodimentsdiscussed herein, the network interface 170 may include a modem. Using amodem, the receiver may communication over a network 172 that includesstandard telephone lines associated with the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). However, it should be appreciated that the network 172may include any type of network capable of data communication, such asfor example, a local or wide area network, cell phone network or theInternet. In this regard, the receiver 108 may communicate through thenetwork interface 170 using any suitable communication protocol such asTCP/IP. Through the network interface 170, a user may communicate withthe service provider 104 to change his or her account status includingtaking such actions as adding or canceling channels and/or orderingpay-per-view content. The network interface 170 may additionally be usedto facilitate communication between the receiver 108 and the productoffering advertisement database 176.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart that illustrates an operation of the advertisingmanagement module 158 in accordance with embodiments discussed herein.Initially, at operation 204 the receiver 108 receives a program servicetransmission from the service provider 104 and displays content from thetransmission on the display device 144. Following operation 204,operation 208 may be executed. In operation 208, the advertisingmanagement module 158 processes signals received from the user inputdevice 160 to determine if a user has selected a particular product. Asdiscussed in greater detail below, FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment inwhich the user selects a particular product that is featured in abroadcast advertisement; and FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment in whichthe user selects a particular product through the use of an advertisingfilter menu or other dedicated graphical user interface.

If, in operation 208, a product selection is received, operation 212 maybe executed. In operation 212, the advertising management module 158 mayadd the user's product selection to a shopping list 164 or other datastructure which contains items selected by the user. Each item in theshopping list 164 may contain specific details of a desired product,such as would be entered through the advertising filter menu (shown ingreater detail in FIG. 4). Alternatively or in combination, the shoppinglist 164 may include a product name or other information provided by aservice provider 104 when a user selects a product featured in abroadcast advertisement (shown in greater in FIG. 3). The shopping list164 may be maintained in the storage device 152 and referred to overtime by the advertising management module 158 in order to displayproduct offering advertisements 162 in accordance with user productselections.

Following either operation 208 or operation 212, operation 216 may beexecuted. In operation 216, the advertising management module 158selects one or more product offering advertisements 162. In someinstances the service provider 104 may push particular product offeringadvertisements 162 to the receiver 108, which in turn stores the productoffering advertisements in the storage device 152. In this instance, oneor more of the product offering advertisement 162 stored in the storagedevice 152 may be for products that do not correspond to userselections. Accordingly, in operation 216, the advertising managementmodule 158 may compare the stored product offering advertisements 162 tothe shopping list 164, which contains product selections entered by theuser. In other instances, the service provider 104 may pull a particularproduct offering advertisements 162 from the service provider 104. Here,operation 216 may include a network transaction that queries the productoffering advertisement database 176. The query may be sent across thenetwork 172 and may include specific product details or selections suchas those received in operation 208. In response, the product offeringadvertisement database 176 may return specific product offeringadvertisements 162 that conform to the user's product selections. In oneembodiment, this may include sending a return network transaction acrossthe network 172. In other embodiments, this may include sending a returntransaction via the satellite 116 to be received by the receiver 108 atthe antenna 120.

In one embodiment, the advertising management module 158 may select aproduct offering advertising 162 based on a distance from the user'slocation. Specifically, a product offering advertising 162 may includegeographic information regarding a location of a specific product saleor a retailer. For example, a product offering advertisement 162 for thesale of particular automobile may include a street address for aretailer who is selling the automobile. When selecting a productoffering advertisements 162 for display to the user, the advertisingmanagement module 158 may compare the user's location to the geographiclocation provided in the product offering advertisements 162 andeliminate those that are outside of a certain distance. The distanceused to select product offering advertisements 162 may be selected bythe user or may be a default value.

Following operation 216, operation 220 may be executed. In operation220, the advertising management module 158 outputs product offeringadvertisements 162 for display to the user. In one embodiment, operation220 may include outputting product offering advertisements to a frontpanel screen 136 that is disposed on a visible surface of the receiver108. Alternatively or in combination, operation 220 may includeoutputting a product offering advertisement 162 to a display deviceotherwise used to display content associated with a program servicetransmission.

Following operation 220, operation 224 may be executed. In operation224, the advertising management module 158 determines if a request isreceived from a user for more information on a product. A user may makesuch a request by selecting a particular displayed product offeringadvertisement and entering an appropriate command through the user inputdevice 160. If the advertising management module 158 receives such acommand in operation 224, then operation 228 may be executed. Inoperation 228, the advertising management module 158 may output anextended product offering advertisement having further informationregarding a product for sale that is featured in a product offeringadvertisement selected by a user. An example extended product offeringadvertisement is illustrated in FIG. 5 and is discussed in greaterdetail below.

Following either operation 224 or operation 228, operation 232 may beexecuted. In operation 232, the advertising management module 158 makesa determination as to whether a particular product offeringadvertisement is deleted by a user command. Here, the user may viewdetails of the product offering advertisement and determine that theproduct offered for sale does not meet his specific requirements. Forexample, an automobile may be an undesired make or model or may be toohighly priced. The user may view such product information through, forexample, a product offering advertisement shown on the front paneldisplay 136 (as shown in FIG. 3) or through and extended productoffering advertisement shown on the display device 144 (as shown in FIG.5). The user may delete an unwanted product offering advertisement and,in response, the product advertising management module 158 may deletethe product offering advertisement 162 from the storage device 152.Accordingly, in subsequent displays of product offering advertisements,the deleted advertisement will not be included. Following eitheroperation 232 or operation 236, the method may proceed to operation 208to thereby repeat the operations set forth in FIG. 2. Specifically, theadvertisement management module 158 may again receive input for productselections during the display of a particular channel of the programservice transmission.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of output from the receiver 108 to the frontpanel display 136 and to the display device 144 in accordance withembodiments discussed herein. The output shown in FIG. 3 illustrates onemanner in which a user may select a product for inclusion in theshopping list 164. As shown in FIG. 3, the user may select a particularproduct that is featured in a broadcast advertisement. By way ofillustration, FIG. 3 shows a display device 144 that is showing abroadcast advertisement for an automobile. As the broadcastadvertisement shows on the display device 144, the advertisingmanagement module 158 may be enabled or configured to receive user inputthat selects the featured automobile. For example, if a user presses adesignated button on the user input device 160 during the broadcastadvertisement, the advertising management module 158 may interpret thatinput as a selection of the automobile. Alternatively or in combination,the receiver 108 may output a pop-up 316 or other icon that is overlainor otherwise displayed on the display device 144 currently with thebroadcast advertisement. In order to select the product featured in thebroadcast advertisement, a user may select the pop-up 316 or icon usinga cursor or pointer associated with the user input device 160.

In another embodiment, the user may select a particular product throughthe use of a dedicated graphical user interface (GUI). By way ofillustration, FIG. 4 shows a display device 144 that is shows anadvertising filter menu 406 implemented as part of a graphical userinterface. The advertising filter menu 406 may be activated by a user byappropriate commands entered through the user input device 160. Theadvertising filter menu 406 may be displayed on some or all of thescreen of the display device 144. In one embodiment, the advertisingfiler menu 406 may occupy a window or other portion of the screen, whileother content 402 form the program service is displayed on the remainderof the screen.

As shown in FIG. 4, the advertising menu 406 may include a number ofmenu items that allow a user to specify one or more desired productcharacteristics. By way of example and not limitation, the advertisingfilter menu 406 shown in FIG. 4 includes a “product type” menu item 404.In this example, the user has selected “Automobile” as a product type.Related to an automobile product type, the advertising filter menu 406may additionally include a “make” menu item 408, a “model” menu item412, a “year range” 416 menu item. In this example, the user hasselected an automobile of make “A” and model “B” that is made anywherebetween 2000 to 2005. For any product type, the advertising filter menu406 may include menu items such as a “price range” menu item 420 and adistance menu item 424. In this example, the user has selected a pricerange of $15,000 to $18,000 and has specified that he only wishes toview product sales that are located within 100 miles of his location.

Once one or more user product selections have been received by theadvertising management module 158 and the appropriate descriptiveinformation stored in the shopping list 164, the advertising managementmodule 158 may output product offering advertisements that conform touser selections. As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the receiver 108includes a front panel screen 136 that includes a channel indication304. In addition to the channel indication 304, the front panel screen136 includes a first product offering advertisement 308 for “car #1” anda second product offering advertisement 312 for “car #2.” A productoffering advertisement shown on the front panel screen 136 may be a textdisplay that includes one or more details associated with a specificoffer for sale of the product. For example, the first product offeringadvertisement 308 and the second product offering advertisement 312include an address where the featured automobile may be purchased. Thefirst product offering advertisement 308 specifies that car #1 may bepurchased at “120th and Main Street.” The second product offeringadvertisement 312 specifies that car #2 may be purchased at “8th and AStreet”.

It should be appreciated that displaying product offering advertisementson the front panel screen 136 is by way an example and not limitation.In other embodiments, operation 220 may include sending a particularproduct offering advertisement for display on the display device 144.Product offering advertisement sent to the display device 144 mayfeature an overlay of text or graphics on other content shown on thedisplay device 144. Product offering advertisement shown on the displaydevice 144 may be shown periodically or in response to the receipt ofthe new advertisement and so on.

Once one or more product offering advertisements are displayed to theuser, the user may identify a particular product offering advertisementfor which he would like to obtain further information. Referring to FIG.3, a user may, for example, wish to view further information regardingcar #1 featured in product offering advertisement 308. In this example,the user may determine from the product offering advertisement 308 shownon the front panel display 136 that car #1 is being sold at a convenientlocation and that he would therefore like to obtain more informationregarding specific details of car #1 or the retailer that is offeringcar #1 for sale. Accordingly, the user may enter appropriate commandsinto the user input device 160 that selects the first product offeringadvertisement 308. In response, the advertising management module 158may output an extended product offering advertisement 506 as shown inFIG. 5.

As shown in FIG. 5, the extended product offering advertisement 506 maybe overlain on a display of other content 402 associated with theprogram service transmission. The extended product offeringadvertisement 506 may feature a number of product details associatedwith the selected product. By way of example, the extended productoffering advertisement 506 shown in FIG. 5 includes a product name 504,an automobile make 508, an automobile model 512, automobile year 516, aprice 520, and a location 524. As can be seen in FIG. 5, the extendedproduct offering advertisement 506 indicates that car #1 is of make “A”and model “B,” made in year 2003, offered for sale at $16,000, and islocated at “120th and Main Street.”

It should be emphasized that the products featured in product offeringadvertisements shown on the front panel display 136 may not necessarilybe shown concurrently with a corresponding broadcast advertisement forthe same product shown on display device 144. Specifically, the productoffering advertisements 308 and 312 may be displayed periodically to theuser regardless of the content of the currently displayed channel on thedisplay device 144. In some instances, the receiver 108 may receive anew product offering advertisement from the product offeringadvertisement database 176 that corresponds to a particular productselection entered by the user at some time in the past. The front paneldisplay 136 may then be used to display the recently received productoffering advertisement to the user immediately upon receipt. The new orrecently received product offering advertisement may be deliveredthrough a pop-up or highlighted in an appropriate manner to indicate tothe user that the product offering advertisement is recently receivedand therefore features a new offering for sale. In other embodiments,the user may enter a command through the user input device 160 thatindicates or specifies that the advertising management module 158 shouldoutput all currently held product offering advertisements 162 thatconform to the user's product selections. In this embodiment, the frontpanel screen 136 may display a banner or other running display of anumber of product offering advertisements that conform to the user'srequest or command.

The method illustrated in FIG. 2 includes displaying a particularproduct offering advertisements that conform to user product selections.In other embodiments, the advertising management module 158 may outputproduct offering advertisements regardless of user input. In thisinstance, the service provider 104 may push a particular productoffering advertisement 162 to the receiver 108 so that it may bedisplayed in accordance with priorities specified by the serviceprovider 104. In accordance with this embodiment, FIG. 6 illustrates amethod that operates to display a product offering advertisement withoutspecific user inputs.

Initially, at operation 604, the receiver 108 receives a program servicetransmission from the service provider 104. Following operation 604,operation 608 may be executed. In operation 608, the receiver may outputat least one channel included in the program service transmission. Inoperation 608, the channel output by the receiver may include at leastone broadcast advertisement. The program service transmission receivedin operation 604 may include particular product offering advertisementssent in a data transmission, for example, through the vertical blankinginterval portion of the broadcast transmission. These product offeringadvertisements may be stored in storage 152. The stored product offeringadvertisements 162 may include specifications as to when during aparticular program service they should be displayed to the user.Specifically, the product offering advertisements may be displayedconcurrently with a similar product that is featured in the broadcastadvertisement shown on the display device 144.

Following operation 608, operation 612 may be executed. In operation612, the advertising management module 158 may display a particularproduct offering advertisement that features a product shown in thebroadcast advertisement. Concurrently with this broadcast or display,the product offering advertisement for the same product may be displayedon the front panel display 136. For example, the broadcast advertisementmay feature a new model of car that is available from a certainautomobile manufacturer. A product offering advertisement that may beshown concurrently with the broadcast advertisement may feature aspecific sale or retailer that is offering the new car model. Theproduct offering advertisement may include various details associatedwith the sale, such as the location of the retailer, the price of thecar, the currently available colors, and so on.

Following operation 612, operation 616 may be executed. In operation616, the advertising management module 158 may process input receivedfrom user input device to determine that a user has selected aparticular product offering advertisement. Following operation 616,operation 620 may be executed. In operation 620, the advertisingmanagement module 158 may display further information regarding theselected the product offering advertisement. Additionally, theadvertising management module 158 may add the product to the shoppinglist 164 stored in the storage device 158.

It should be appreciated that automobiles sales are by way example andnot limitation. Product offering advertisements may be used to inform aviewer regarding sales for any type of product. For example, productoffering advertisements may be provided that feature such products asvideo games, fast food items, feature films, and so on. By way offurther example, a broadcast advertisement may feature a new release ofa feature film. Concurrently with this broadcast advertisement, one ormore product offering advertisements may be displayed that each featurea specific theater that is currently showing the new feature film.

While embodiments are discussed herein in connection with the exemplarysatellite broadcast system shown in FIG. 1, it should be appreciatedthat embodiments may be used in connection other types of networks orcontent delivery mechanisms. Generally, the disclosure includes contentdelivered from a provider to a receiver across or over a network. Thenetwork across which content may be delivered may include satellitesystem, such as the one shown in FIG. 1. Alternatively, the network mayinclude a cable television network, local area network, wide areanetwork or the Internet. In connection with certain embodiments, areceiver may include a general purpose computer operable to receive dataor other content across a network, such as a wide area network of theinternet. In such embodiments, the computer may be configured so that aprovider can access a web site, a file transfer protocol (FTP) site, afile sharing system or site, and so on. Moreover, the order of methodoperations, such those shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 6, described herein isby way of example and limitation. Certain implementations may reordermethod operations without departing from the spirit and scope of thedisclosure.

What is claimed:
 1. A receiver comprising: at least one input componentto receive audiovisual content; at least one output componentcommunicatively coupled with at least one display device; a plurality oftuners; one or more processors communicatively coupled with the at leastone input component, at least one output component, and the plurality oftuners, the one or more processors configured to cause the receiver toperform: outputting an advertising filter menu for display to the atleast one display device, the advertising filter menu comprising menuitems allowing for user specification of one or more productcharacteristics; processing indicia of one or more selections made withone or more of the menu items of the advertising filter menu, the one ormore selections indicating one or more specified productcharacteristics; identifying a location corresponding to a user;receiving a program service transmission, the program servicetransmission comprising content for at least one channel; receivingplurality of product advertisements at the receiver and identifyingrespective location specifications associated with the plurality ofproduct advertisements, the plurality of product advertisements forproducts shown on the at least one channel of the program servicetransmission; processing the plurality of product advertisements andstoring the plurality of product advertisements in memory; selecting asubset of the plurality of product advertisements based at least in parton the one or more specified product characteristics and comparing therespective location specifications associated with the plurality ofproduct advertisements with a threshold distance with respect to thelocation corresponding to the user, and eliminating from inclusion inthe subset at least one product offering advertisement which does notsatisfy the threshold distance; outputting the at least one channel fordisplay; selecting at least a first product advertisement of the subsetof the plurality of product advertisements and outputting the firstproduct advertisement for display; receiving a user input following theoutput of the first product advertisement of the subset of the pluralityof product advertisements; modifying subsequent advertisement selectionso that a selection of at least a second product advertisement is basedat least in part on the user input responsive to the output of the firstproduct advertisement; and outputting the second product advertisementfor display.
 2. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the user inputcorresponds to an advertisement deletion indicated via a user inputdevice, the advertisement deletion indicating the display of the firstproduct advertisement, and the receiver is further caused to perform: inresponse to receiving the advertisement deletion, no longer outputtingthe first product advertisement for display.
 3. The receiver of claim 2,wherein the receiver is further caused to perform: in response toreceiving the advertisement deletion, deleting the first productadvertisement from the memory of the receiver; wherein the subset of theplurality of product advertisements is revised, and the second productadvertisement is selected from the revised subset of the plurality ofproduct advertisements.
 4. The receiver of claim 1, wherein the userinput corresponds to a product selection indicated via a user inputdevice, and the receiver is further caused to perform: receiving thesecond product advertisement, where the second product advertisementcorresponds to the product selection, has an associated locationspecification satisfying the threshold distance with respect to thelocation corresponding to the user, and is additive to the subset of theplurality of product advertisements.
 5. The receiver of claim 4, whereinthe menu items of the advertising filter menu allow user entry of thethreshold distance.
 6. The receiver of claim 5, wherein the menu itemsof the advertising filter menu allow user entry of a price range as atleast one product characteristic of the one or more productcharacteristics.
 7. The receiver of claim 6, wherein the receiver isfurther caused to perform: storing the product selection; receiving anumber of additional product advertisements over time; and comparingeach additional product advertisement of the number of additionalproduct advertisements to the product selection stored by the receiverto: determine if a respective product corresponding to the additionalproduct advertisement conforms to the product selection; and when theadditional product advertisement conforms to the product selection,outputting for display a notification corresponding to the additionalproduct advertisement.
 8. A method comprising: outputting by a receiveran advertising filter menu for display to a display devicecommunicatively coupled to the receiver, the advertising filter menucomprising menu items allowing for user specification of one or moreproduct characteristics; processing by the receiver indicia of one ormore selections made with one or more of the menu items of theadvertising filter menu, the one or more selections indicating one ormore specified product characteristics; identifying a locationcorresponding to a user; receiving a program service transmission at thereceiver, the program service transmission comprising content for atleast one channel; receiving plurality of product advertisements at thereceiver and identifying respective location specifications associatedwith the plurality of product advertisements, the plurality of productadvertisements for products shown on the at least one channel of theprogram service transmission; processing the plurality of productadvertisements and storing the plurality of product advertisements inmemory of the receiver; selecting a subset of the plurality of productadvertisements based at least in part on the one or more specifiedproduct characteristics and comparing the respective locationspecifications associated with the plurality of product advertisementswith a threshold distance with respect to the location corresponding tothe user, and eliminating from inclusion in the subset at least oneproduct offering advertisement which does not satisfy the thresholddistance; outputting the at least one channel from the receiver fordisplay; selecting at least a first product advertisement of the subsetof the plurality of product advertisements and outputting from thereceiver the first product advertisement for display; receiving a userinput following the output of the first product advertisement of thesubset of the plurality of product advertisements; modifying subsequentadvertisement selection so that a selection of at least a second productadvertisement is based at least in part on the user input responsive tothe output of the first product advertisement; and outputting from thereceiver the second product advertisement for display.
 9. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the user input corresponds to an advertisement deletionindicated via a user input device, the advertisement deletion indicatingthe display of the first product advertisement, and the method furthercomprises: in response to receiving the advertisement deletion, nolonger outputting the first product advertisement for display.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, the method further comprising: in response toreceiving the advertisement deletion, deleting the first productadvertisement from the memory of the receiver; wherein the subset of theplurality of product advertisements is revised, and the second productadvertisement is selected from the revised subset of the plurality ofproduct advertisements.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the userinput corresponds to a product selection indicated via a user inputdevice, and the method further comprises: receiving the second productadvertisement at the receiver, where the second product advertisementcorresponds to the product selection, has an associated locationspecification satisfying the threshold distance with respect to thelocation corresponding to the user, and is additive to the subset of theplurality of product advertisements.
 12. The method of claim 11, whereinthe menu items of the advertising filter menu allow user entry of thethreshold distance.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the menu itemsof the advertising filter menu allow user entry of a price range as atleast one product characteristic of the one or more productcharacteristics.
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: storingthe product selection by the receiver; receiving a number of additionalproduct advertisements over time at the receiver; and comparing eachadditional product advertisement of the number of additional productadvertisements to the product selection stored by the receiver to:determine if a respective product corresponding to the additionalproduct advertisement conforms to the product selection; and when theadditional product advertisement conforms to the product selection,outputting for display a notification corresponding to the additionalproduct advertisement.
 15. One or more non-transitory,processor-readable media comprising instructions which, when executed byone or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devicesto perform: outputting an advertising filter menu for display to atleast one display device, the advertising filter menu comprising menuitems allowing for user specification of one or more productcharacteristics; processing indicia of one or more selections made withone or more of the menu items of the advertising filter menu, the one ormore selections indicating one or more specified productcharacteristics; identifying a location corresponding to a user;receiving a program service transmission, the program servicetransmission comprising content for at least one channel; receivingplurality of product advertisements and identifying respective locationspecifications associated with the plurality of product advertisements,the plurality of product advertisements for products shown on the atleast one channel of the program service transmission; processing theplurality of product advertisements and storing the plurality of productadvertisements in memory; selecting a subset of the plurality of productadvertisements based at least in part on the one or more specifiedproduct characteristics and comparing the respective locationspecifications associated with the plurality of product advertisementswith a threshold distance with respect to the location corresponding tothe user, and eliminating from inclusion in the subset at least oneproduct offering advertisement which does not satisfy the thresholddistance; outputting the at least one channel for display; selecting atleast a first product advertisement of the subset of the plurality ofproduct advertisements and outputting the first product advertisementfor display; receiving a user input following the output of the firstproduct advertisement of the subset of the plurality of productadvertisements; modifying subsequent advertisement selection so that aselection of at least a second product advertisement is based at leastin part on the user input responsive to the output of the first productadvertisement; and outputting the second product advertisement fordisplay.
 16. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media ofclaim 15, wherein the user input corresponds to an advertisementdeletion indicated via a user input device, the advertisement deletionindicating the display of the first product advertisement, and the oneor more processing devices are further caused to perform: in response toreceiving the advertisement deletion, no longer outputting the firstproduct advertisement for display.
 17. The one or more non-transitory,processor-readable media of claim 16, wherein the one or more processingdevices are further caused to perform: in response to receiving theadvertisement deletion, deleting the first product advertisement fromthe memory; wherein the subset of the plurality of productadvertisements is revised, and the second product advertisement isselected from the revised subset of the plurality of productadvertisements.
 18. The one or more non-transitory, processor-readablemedia of claim 15, wherein the user input corresponds to a productselection indicated via a user input device, and the one or moreprocessing devices are further caused to perform: receiving the secondproduct advertisement, where the second product advertisementcorresponds to the product selection, has an associated locationspecification satisfying the threshold distance with respect to thelocation corresponding to the user, and is additive to the subset of theplurality of product advertisements.
 19. The one or more non-transitory,processor-readable media of claim 18, wherein the menu items of theadvertising filter menu allow user entry of the threshold distance. 20.The one or more non-transitory, processor-readable media of claim 19,wherein the menu items of the advertising filter menu allow user entryof a price range as at least one product characteristic of the one ormore product characteristics.